USSR 1941

Secrecy measures were immediately implemented, as Colonel Katukov had said.

First, the soldiers are isolated from the workers in the factory... Originally, the tank soldiers had to learn the tank production process and basic maintenance with the workers, but now all of them are over, and the maintenance courses are continued by the more outstanding tank soldiers and engineers in the army.

The second is that the training ground is isolated.

The original training has nothing to keep secret, so workers can enter and leave the training ground relatively freely.

But now, a wall of sandbags has been piled up on the entire periphery, and sentries are standing guard one by one with live ammunition.

Katukov even decided not to report the method.

The reason is... If it is reported, then the Supreme Command will definitely spread this method to other troops, and the result will immediately spread to the German army.

"But..." Major Gavrilov asked with some concern: "If the Supreme Command pursues responsibility, how should we explain it?"

"It's just a voluntary practice of the soldiers!" Katukov replied: "We didn't know it was so important that it deserved to be reported to the Supreme Command!"

This is of course not the truth, but it seems to make sense.

"But it may affect the combat effectiveness of other troops!"

"Maybe!" Katukov replied, "but most of their tanks are on the defensive line, they basically don't use this method. Instead, the Germans are on the offensive... No, we can't let them know !"

Major Gavrilov nodded in agreement, and at the same time glanced at Shulka, as if to say that the method Shulka had invented was a threat even to Moscow.

Shulka could only spread his hands innocently, he didn't expect such a side effect at the time.

However, these secrecy measures are not really necessary.

First of all, because the tank production units of the Stalingrad Tractor Factory have implemented strict secrecy systems, and these systems are still very successful. Because the German army had never known that the Soviet army had T34 tanks until they encountered them on the battlefield.

Secondly, the training of the fourth tank brigade did not last for a week, that is, seven to seven.

On the afternoon of the fifth day,

When Shuerka and others were still explaining and getting more familiar with the use of self-rescue logs, the call for assembly sounded.

Before Shulka could ask, the instructor walked up to Shulka with a pale face and said, "The enemy has surrounded Vyazma!"

The instructor does not need to participate in troop training. In the past few days, he has been handling the review of the troop's formation into the Fourth Tank Brigade.

"How many people are surrounded?" Shulka asked.

"670,000!" the instructor replied: "even more!"

That was the 19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd armies of the Soviet Army.

This seemed inevitable because, as stated earlier, the Soviets lacked fast mobile units for flexible mobile defenses. Then, as long as the enemy concentrates superior forces to open two gaps from the defense line and advance in depth... a circle of encirclement will naturally be formed.

But 670,000, that is more than half of the troops guarding Moscow, which means that the enemy has opened the gate to Moscow and Moscow is almost undefended.

Therefore, the training of the 4th Tank Brigade is of course over, otherwise, as Colonel Katukov said...Moscow was broken before the training was completed.

The Fourth Tank Brigade assembled urgently and drove to the railway station.

The schedule is so rushed that there is no time to carry heavy equipment except tanks... cars, artillery, anti-tank guns, etc. are all lost in Stalingrad. Tanks are a must. If it does not bring it, there will be no fourth brigade of tanks .

The information obtained by the 333rd regiment was that the heavy equipment would be replenished in Moscow, but in fact Moscow was also in a state of shortage of equipment... It was even unbelievable that there was even a shortage of rifles.

The reason for the lack of rifles is mainly because batches of troops were defeated and captured, and batches of armed people in Moscow were armed in the rear. The non-stop transportation of railway lines could not satisfy this huge amount of ammunition, Transportation requirements such as troops and equipment.

The 4th Tank Brigade was divided into two trains.

The station was so busy that all kinds of supplies and goods bound for Moscow were piled up, as well as stevedores, troops sent to the front line, etc., so that the ranks of the fourth tank brigade were dispersed, and the tanks also needed the police to open the way to maintain them, otherwise It is impossible to move an inch at all.

Then the tank soldiers were busy slowly driving the tank onto the flatbed along the slope, and fixed the tank on the flatbed with steel cables and triangular blocks. After working for several hours, they finally set off before dark in the evening.

"How many tanks do we have?" Shulka asked.

He has been busy training since he was incorporated into the Fourth Tank Brigade, so he doesn't know some basic information about the troops, even the establishment.

"A total of 72!" The instructor replied: "There are 17 more in Moscow, withdrawn from the front line!"

Shulka nodded, the total number is 89, although not many, but all of them are T34, which is also a good armored unit.

"They belong to two tank battalions!" The instructor continued: "The 8th and 9th battalions of the 4th Tank Regiment! The other is the 333rd Mechanized Infantry Regiment, and there is also an anti-aircraft artillery battalion!"

The anti-aircraft artillery battalion is a must for the armored forces... Tanks are most afraid of the enemy's air power, so they must have anti-aircraft firepower.

"Comrade instructor!" Leonyev asked, "Is the situation very bad?"

The instructor wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to say it, because according to their usual practice, they should only say good things and not bad things, and then mobilize morale.

But this set is obviously useless now, because everything will be exposed when we arrive in Moscow.

"Yes!" Shulka replied instead: "The situation is indeed very bad, and hundreds of thousands of us are surrounded by the enemy!"

In an instant, the carriage fell into silence, only the sound of the train "clicking".

"But..." Shulka continued: "Which one of the battles we experienced was good? Brest? Or Kyiv?

No, comrades! You all know that every time it's 'the situation is very bad', every time, we thought we couldn't live in this world, but we survived in the end, until now! So, do you think this time will be an exception? "

"No, Comrade Company Commander!"

"Do you think the Germans can beat us?"

"No, Comrade Company Commander!"

"Do you think anyone can defeat the 333rd regiment?"

"No, Comrade Company Commander!"

The voices of the soldiers became louder and louder, and finally even affected the soldiers in other carriages to shout together.

"Very good!" Shulka nodded in satisfaction: "Comrades, remember one thing: we are not here to defend Moscow, we are here to teach those Germans a lesson!"

The soldiers then let out a loud cry like a beast, and their morale was quickly mobilized.